WEEK 07

Today, we present final process images from our WORKs exhibitors.  Take a look at the projects as they come to completion.

FROZEN

(Fig. 1) Jungin Lee has designed her own textiles with Jimin Seo, Textile designer, in PhD Royal College of Art for the FROZEN seats. The geometric patterned fabric is woven on a jacquard loom.(Fig. 2) Detail of of the weave structure.(Fig. 3) The weaver gives the woven fabric an inspection for irregularities. He tightens  where necessary. The weave structure, is also known as the warp and weft.(Fig. 4) Jungin prepares the fabric to fold into the chair structure. (Fig. 5) The fabric folds into a seat in 15 mins. A resin will be poured into the soft mould and then cured in situ to form the hard inner structure. From the outside, the seat will still retain the softness of the woven fabric.

PATINA

(Fig. 1) Lola Lely has been working with master patineur, Derek Bayley from Bronze Age art foundry in Limehouse, East London.  Derek is very experienced in the art of patination, and well versed in all of the traditional patinas for bronze sculpture. What makes him different is his willingness to collaborate with designers and to experiment with new techniques and chemical combinations. This collaboration has resulted in some very  unusual and striking colour patinas for Lola’s lighting pieces. (Fig 2.) Once patinated, the bronze lampshades are slightly heated up again and buffed with wax to enhance and seal the patina. (Fig 3.) The lampshades are waxed to a lustre finish.(Fig 4.) PATINA line-up. Each handmade light is unique and one of a kind.(Fig 5.) The PATINA candlesticks have a brighter and bolder patina for a playful feel. These pieces are for the Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition, also showing in Milan 2013.

KS_MG

  Meret Probst’s stunning  KS_MG glass pieces in amber and translucent is now finished, photographed and ready to be packed for its journey to Milan.

WELL PROVEN CHAIR

(Fig 1.)  Made from a mixture of sawdust and bio resin, the Well Proven Chair is left to cure at room temperature.  (Fig.2) Well Proven Chairs in various colourways – to achieve this pigments were added to the sawdust and resin mixture. (Fig. 3) The designers of the Well Proven Chair, Marjan van Aubel and James Shaw were recently nominated for the Design Museum’s ‘DESIGNS OF THE YEAR’ award.  The winners will be announced in a couple of weeks. We are really proud of them and want our guys to win!

(Fig. 4) James and Marjan being interviewed and filmed at the ‘DESIGNS OF THE YEAR’ opening event.

PACK!

THREAD WRAPPING MACHINE

(Fig.1) Anton Alvarez’s Thread Wrapping Machine, is a new technique in joinery. The machine wraps thread around pieces of timber to secure the structure. (Fig. 2) Using different coloured threads adds extra dimension to Anton’s abstract, yet functional pieces.(Fig. 3) Anton will be showing his very tall and wonderfully colourful Thread machine floor lamp at the show.

75% CONTROL

 (Fig 1. & 2) Dafi Reis Doron’s 75% Control stools are now finished and ready to go to Milan. Dafi has been developing this new type of upholstery foam for the last 2 years. She is there with the technique and we think it will receive a lot of interest at the show.(Fig. 3) The foam upholstery creates a very light and flexible structure for furniture construction. Dafi demonstrates how light the stools  are by lifting it with one hand!

HYBREED

(Fig. 1) Charlotte Kingsnorth is producing two new HYBREED chairs for our WORKs exhibition. The designer has purposefully sourced this much used, old school lab chair as a starting point. With her artistic intent and hand craft approach, the chair will be given new life and transformed into a unique piece of furniture.(Fig 2.) A bold green fabric is assigned to the second school chair, with the wooden back and seat. (Fig. 3) The two chairs sit side by side – both unique and one of a kind. 

LOST LEATHER CUTLERY

(Fig. 1) Helena Karelson, has spent most of this week at the foundry to cast her leather cutlery.(Fig 2.) The foundryman attaches wax sprues to the leather investment moulds. (Fig. 3) The moulds are then dipped in slurry a couple of times. (Fig. 4) The moulds are now ready for casting in 6 minutes. Casting sand covers the mould and then molten aluminium metal is poured into the cavities.(Fig. 5) When the investment mould is burnt out, the aluminium cast cutlery is tumbled in the pan to remove some of the excess shell. (Fig 6.) A close-up of the final cast pieces.

BONELAMP

(Fig. 1) Eirik Helgesen has designed the Bone Lamp from aluminium rod produced at the controversial Alcoa aluminium factory in East Iceland, merged with bones from wild reindeer of the same area. Combining these materials into one object is part of a grater investigation looking at the encountering between global industry and local culture.
Pictures above displays his two main collaborators while developing the lamp: Alcoa worker Oskar Bjørnsson and reindeer-craftsman Þórhallur Árnason. Both were providing essential material and knowledge for the project.(Fig. 2) The reindeer legs and its hooves are boiled 4 to 6 hours to be workable. (The boiling is done outdoor, as the smell is unbearable). (Fig. 3) Bone after boiling and cleaning.(Fig. 4) Experiments with aluminium to form the lamps structure and clamp function.(Fig. 5) The lamp in upraised position showing the final principle for the structure.(Fig. 6) Test of structure in collapsed position.(Fig. 7) Final shape of the “lampshade” in profile, and from the underside with LED lights.

WEEK 06

This is the penultimate progress report  from WORKs before we head to Milan. It’s Easter weekend, we want to sit at home and eat chocolate but quite a few of our designers are putting in some serious extra hours this week to complete projects and to pack all the pieces ready for transit.

So here’s a selection of updates from Lola Lely, Charlotte Kingsnorth, Helena Karelson and Ola Mireka.

PATINA

 (Fig 1.) The spalted timber lightbulb holders are now wired and ready to connect to the bronze patina  lampshades. The lampshades will be patinated by a master patineur from the renowned Bronze Age art foundry in Limehouse, early next week.

 (Fig. 2) Close-up of the wooden light fittings. Each turned piece was stained with a water based dye and then polished up to bring out the natural patina of the wood.

 HYBREED(Fig 1.) Charlotte has selected a beautiful quilt-like upholstery fabric for her new Hybreed chairs.   (Fig 2.) Using a mixture of  know-how and intuition, Charlotte handworks the fabric by shaping the material to the body of the chairs.  (Fig 3.) The desired form is achieved through a process of pinning, cutting and hand-stitching, in many ways like  a tailor making a bespoke suit. 

KITCHEN SCALES

Helena’s innovative combined kitchen scales and pouring jug measures weight and liquid volume at the same time.  This Easter, Helena has been testing out her innovative product at home, by cooking for friends. She measures the correct amount of pasta with the right amount of water for a perfect al dente pasta dish. It worked a treat.

 

STONKI(Fig 1.) STONK Light  – Ola’s  lighting structure is made from aluminium tubes, joined together by hand-forming thermo plastic into globular connectors.(Fig 3.) STONKI Clock.

WEEK 05

The countdown towards our first Milan show is in 10 days!  VIP invitations to the WORKs private preview evening goes out this week. We will be giving tours and talks on other days too. We will post a schedule of events in the next coming days. Stay alert!

This week we also share the  latest project updates from  three of our WORKs exhibitors –  Lola Lely, Meret Probst and Helena Karelson. Follow the posts below to see how their projects are progressing.

PATINA

(Fig. 1) Lola Lely has been experimenting with various chemical recipes for patination. Some of the chemicals from the list are extremely foul smelling. 

(Fig 2.) Some of the techniques Lola has been devising to  patinate metal includes, burying metal in organic matter (such as sawdust and soil), wrapping, heating, liquid immersion   and fuming metal in various chemical solutions. ‘Fuming’ involves suspending  metal samples over various  strong chemical solutions. The fumes from the formulaes react with the metal and thus, produces a permanent and hardwearing patina on the surface.

(Fig. 3) Close-up of a patina sample with the design sketch superimposed on top.

(Fig. 4) Newly turned  parts for the neck element of the PATINA pendant lights. Lola has selected spalted beech – a rotten timber (which has random patterns and veining) because of its  resemblance to marble and stone patterning.  The wooden houses are for a second project – PATINA candlesticks.

KS_MG

(Fig. 1) The plaster last for the glass mould.(Fig. 2) Creating a two-part mould from the plaster cast.(Fig. 3) Glass blowers at work. (fig. 4) Hot glass is dropped into the mould. The molten glass flows evenly inside the mould  through the distribution of air from the glass blower, blowing into the long pipe.  (Fig. 5) The plaster mould after use. 

KONTUUR WINDOW BLINDS

(Fig. 1) Helena Karelson’s small scale card models for her innovative Kontuur blinds. (Fig. 2) Assembling the blind to test the mechanism.

WEEK 01

It’s been a busy and productive first week for WORKs Collective. We have recorded experiments from Marjan van Aubel & James Shaw, Meret Probst, and Lola Lely to name a few.  All images of the selected projects can be seen below. Next week we will publish more stories about the other exciting projects from WORKs …

WELL PROVEN CHAIR

 

James Shaw and  Marjan van Aubel mixing wood shavings with their special bio-resin formula to craft  the Well Proven Chair.

KS_MG 

Meret Probst’s design sketch for her KS_MG glassware collection( fig. 1). The charming paper maquettes and hand-made steel moulds for the glass blowing (fig. 2,3) 

PATINA

         

Lola Lely’s design sketches for the Patina pendant lights. Cast from bronze, the lamps are patinated with a variety of methods and chemical formulaes.  Lola has been finalising her colour palette this week and working with a stonemason in  Northampshire to turn various marble tops for the neck element.

LOST LEATHER CUTLERY

(Fig. 1) Finding the right texture for the cutlery(Fig. 2 & 3 below) Cutting and folding the leather and cork moulds.

Helena Karelson’s sand cast cutlery uses a soft mould (in this case leather) as the “investment”.  The leather is burnt out during the aluminium casting process to leave the final metal objects. The last image shows some of the cutlery pieces that did not come out too well. What happened? The molten metal did not flow evenly and fill the entire void in the mould.  We think there’s certain charm and uniqueness about the mishap castings!